As the calendar has turned to December, activity has started to pick up around the league. Here are the top stories from the past week, highlighted by a significant trade between Anaheim and New Jersey.
Doughty, Karlsson Comment On Next Contracts: Although Kings defenseman Drew Doughty and Senators blueliner Erik Karlsson are signed through 2018-19, that didn’t stop both of them from commenting on their next contracts. Doughty fired the first salvo saying that he (and Karlsson) “deserve quite a bit more” than Predators defender P.K. Subban, whose $9MM cap charge leads the league. A day later, Karlsson made some waves when he told reporters that there will be no hometown discount for the Senators and suggested that he will go to the highest bidder if he makes it to the open market in 2019. Neither player can sign an extension until July of 2018 so this is going to linger for a while.
Dorsett’s Career Over: Canucks winger Derek Dorsett was off to a strong start to his season, one that saw him record seven goals in 20 games after missing most of last year after undergoing cervical disc herniation surgery. Unfortunately, the feel-good story came to a crashing halt on Thursday when it was announced that his career is over after consulting with doctors when his neck pain returned late last month as the decision was made that it would be too dangerous to his health to continue playing. Dorsett has one year remaining on his contract after this one but he will likely spend the season on injured reserve and then formally retire at the end of the 2018-19 season.
Sabres Willing To Retain On Kane: Sabres winger Evander Kane already figures to be in high demand between now and the trade deadline. He’s off to a blistering start to the season and leads Buffalo in scoring but the speculation has been that a contract extension isn’t likely to occur in the weeks to come. This past week, it came out that the team would be willing to retain salary to facilitate a trade. Considering Kane carries a $5.25MM cap hit, their willingness to hold back part of that should help draw more interest from some of the more cap-strapped teams around the league. Buffalo can retain up to 50% of Kane’s contract.
Golden Knights Extend McNabb: Vegas has been quite pleased with the play of defenseman Brayden McNabb so far this season and put their money where their mouth is as they inked the blueliner to a four-year, $10MM contract extension. While his offensive numbers don’t stand out, he is logging a career-best 19:30 of ice time per night while providing a sound defensive presence on a relatively inexperienced Golden Knights back end.
Devils, Ducks Make Big Trade: Last but certainly not least in the headlines of the week was the trade between Anaheim and New Jersey that saw defenseman Sami Vatanen join the Devils (along with a conditional third-round pick) in exchange for centers Adam Henrique and Joseph Blandisi plus a 2018 third-rounder. For Anaheim, it helps to solidify their depth down the middle (which is important given their top-two pivots are both injured) while New Jersey fills a big hole on their back end. On the surface, this appears to be one of those pure ‘hockey trades’ where both teams successfully use a surplus to fill a need.
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